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Posted 10 March 2014 - 11:33 PM

GatorUnvrsty

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Here's an article about Billy that better explains why some teams often prefer not to go deep into their conference tourney. BD says we're going to try and win it, and you can't just leave if you're winning; but I'd be surprised if we wore out Young and Prather doing it.

Billy Donovan: Turnaround too short

Updated: March 10, 2014, 5:00 PM ET
Associated Press

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Billy Donovan renewed his long-standing argument Monday that teams playing in conference title games on "Selection Sunday" should not have to return to the court in the NCAA tournament until Friday.

The top-ranked Gators are a lock to open NCAA play Thursday, March 20, in Orlando.

So if Donovan's team advances to the SEC tournament final this week, which would mean playing three games in three days, Florida would follow with a relatively short week considering it would have to travel back to Gainesville and then to Orlando a few days later.

"One thing the NCAA has to look at is any conference that's playing their conference tournament and it goes into Sunday," Donovan said Monday. "Those teams, in my opinion, should not play in the NCAA tournament until Friday because you have to go up there and you have to have a mandatory opening practice on a Wednesday if you're playing Thursday.

"That's not right for those teams, where you've got a team that all of sudden does a heck of a job, they get all the way to Sunday, they win a championship, maybe they miss 'Selection Sunday,' they've got to travel back, they get back on campus on Sunday, they've got to try to recuperate after playing three straight games and they're on a plane Tuesday night going into a place, Wednesday practice, Thursday playing. That's a lot in my opinion."

It's nothing new for Donovan to complain about, either. Donovan has mentioned the short turnarounds just about every year, even when his team isn't the favorite to win the SEC tournament.

The Gators (29-2) have won a school-record 23 consecutive games and became the first team in SEC history to go 18-0 in the regular season.

Florida will play either eighth-seeded Missouri or ninth-seeded Texas A&M on Friday in the SEC tournament. The Gators haven't won the league tourney since 2007, the year they won the second of back-to-back national titles.

Donovan said knowing his team will open NCAA play next Thursday has no bearing on whether they want to win the SEC tournament.

"Of course we do," he said. "None of that stuff is obviously ideal. We'll have to go out there and play regardless. That was just something I would say we need to look at. But I think our guys will be excited about playing. Regardless where it is, we'll have time to get prepared and ready to play. So if we're playing in Orlando, that's great. But our goal right now would be to try to put three games together and play in a championship game on Sunday.

"There's not going to be anything from our perspective where you sit there and say, 'OK, because it's Sunday, let's bail on this tournament early.' We're not going to do that.

We're going to try to do the very, very best we can if we're fortunate enough to play three days."

Posted 11 March 2014 - 12:05 AM

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He's lying. Just trying to maintain his rep. With a team like that you should have your eye on the real prize. Give them a few days rest and screw the SEC tourney. NBA coaches rest their players all the time. No reason for college coaches not to.

Posted 11 March 2014 - 12:35 AM

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UK4Life, on 11 March 2014 - 12:05 AM, said:

He's lying. Just trying to maintain his rep. With a team like that you should have your eye on the real prize. Give them a few days rest and screw the SEC tourney. NBA coaches rest their players all the time. No reason for college coaches not to.

They'll be a number one seed regardless.

He's not lying necessarily; we may very well try to win it... but what he doesn't say is who we'll be using in that quest to "win it".

We'll likely see heavy doses of bench, and using starters sparingly... enough to keep them active and warm.

I kind of doubt that he's upset about that; the article points out that he's always felt that way about teams having to play on a Sunday in a conference tourney and then turn around and have to play again on Thursday in the NCAA tourney.

It's shocking that he hasn't won a title in 6 years? Most coaches don't win one every 6 years, even the guys at traditional basketball schools; hell, most coaches don't win 1 at all... what's shocking is that he won not 1 but 2 at a football-heavy school like UF.

Coach K won the 2nd of his back2back titles in '92. It was 9 years before he finally won another in 2001. It would be another 9 years before he won again in 2010, and that's at Duke.
Dean Smith won 1 in '82 and didn't win another until 11 years later in '93. He was at UNC for 37 years and still only won the 2 titles.
Rick Pitino won 1 in '96 and didn't win another until 17 years later, last year, and that's at 2 basketball rich programs.
Bill Self has been at KU for 11 years, and he still only has the 1 title in 2008.
Jim Boeheim has been at Syracuse nearly 40 years and he still only has the 1 title in 2003.
Tom Izzo has been at MSU for 20 years and he still only has the 1 title in 2000 (against Billy btw).

There are only 2 current coaches to win titles less than 6 years apart. They are Roy Williams, who won in 2005 and 2009 at UNC. He never even won a title in his 16 years at KU.

The other is Jim Calhoun at UConn, who won in 1999 and again 5 years later in 2004; then he won again 7 years later in 2011.

And those are all basketball schools and HOF coaches; so I'm looking at Billy and his 2 titles at UF, a football school, and thinking he's not doing too bad if he has as many or more titles than all but 2 of the coaches in that group of 8, and hasn't been coaching nearly as long as most of them either.

Posted 11 March 2014 - 10:23 AM

UK4Life

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GatorUnvrsty, on 11 March 2014 - 05:12 AM, said:

I kind of doubt that he's upset about that; the article points out that he's always felt that way about teams having to play on a Sunday in a conference tourney and then turn around and have to play again on Thursday in the NCAA tourney.

It's shocking that he hasn't won a title in 6 years? Most coaches don't win one every 6 years, even the guys at traditional basketball schools; hell, most coaches don't win 1 at all... what's shocking is that he won not 1 but 2 at a football-heavy school like UF.

Coach K won the 2nd of his back2back titles in '92. It was 9 years before he finally won another in 2001. It would be another 9 years before he won again in 2010, and that's at Duke.
Dean Smith won 1 in '82 and didn't win another until 11 years later in '93. He was at UNC for 37 years and still only won the 2 titles.
Rick Pitino won 1 in '96 and didn't win another until 17 years later, last year, and that's at 2 basketball rich programs.
Bill Self has been at KU for 11 years, and he still only has the 1 title in 2008.
Jim Boeheim has been at Syracuse nearly 40 years and he still only has the 1 title in 2003.
Tom Izzo has been at MSU for 20 years and he still only has the 1 title in 2000 (against Billy btw).

There are only 2 current coaches to win titles less than 6 years apart. They are Roy Williams, who won in 2005 and 2009 at UNC. He never even won a title in his 16 years at KU.

The other is Jim Calhoun at UConn, who won in 1999 and again 5 years later in 2004; then he won again 7 years later in 2011.

And those are all basketball schools and HOF coaches; so I'm looking at Billy and his 2 titles at UF, a football school, and thinking he's not doing too bad if he has as many or more titles than all but 2 of the coaches in that group of 8, and hasn't been coaching nearly as long as most of them either.

Posted 11 March 2014 - 11:09 AM

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UK4Life, on 11 March 2014 - 10:24 AM, said:

What UK fans hate Donovan?

In the past there have been some on here that haven't cared for him at all.
All the Kentucky fans posting on the ESPN articles, newpaper articles about UF-UK, etc.
I didn't know if that was an actual thing or if those are just the idiots.

Some coaches really do suck.
Like Roy Williams, Thad Matta, George Thompson,etc.

Wait, whut? That's even sillier than being upset about not winning a NC for 6 years. How would that even apply to what he was saying?

He didn't say the SECT schedule prevented his team from winning it; he said being in the finals of the SECT didn't give those teams enough time to recuperate if the NCAAT scheduled them for a Thursday game instead of a Friday game.

Hell, his point isn't even specifically about his own team; it's about ANY teams that make it to the finals of the SECT, and again, as the article points out, he's made the argument virtually every year, even when his team isn't favored to win it.

Only reason it's getting more press this year is because his team is ranked #1.